Friday, May 13, 2011

will grayson, will grayson

Written in two voices, will grayson will grayson came highly recommended. The book by John Green and David Levithan has been so positively reviewed within the GLBTQ YA community--gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer young adult, for those of you whom I caught off guard--that I had to read it. The authors are accomplished writers without question and they certainly found a way to write a story about boys and love. Boys and love? I rarely put those two ideas together as a direct story line within current YA books these days, but they did it with humor, surprise, and honesty.

will grayson, will grayson is a story about two young men who have the same name and whose lives intertwine unpredictably. A giant of a teen, aptly named Tiny, serves as the able friend who maneuvers the giggles, gifts and trials as friend of one will grayson and maybe boyfriend of the other. This book started a little slow for me but the degree of national interest kept me coming back for more. And I am glad I did: I ended up staying home from work one day to finish it (come on: it was a Friday, I had writing to do NOT on this blog, and it was sunny). (If you lived in Portland, Oregon and had had the sloppy spring we have had, I fully believe that you would not blink an eye at the sun reason for staying home, but I had more reasons. This book is one of them!)

I loved that this book held three teen boys in a tension I often read through a girl's lens. I also loved that these three boys came to their creative senses and found ways to solve their own issues together. The way the authors wove both gay and straight dating into the text worked masterfully for me. Boys and love: who'd of thunk? I sure am glad that David and John did.

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